Chapter 4: Welcome to the family, Raphtalia
Raphtalia is a happy girl running through her village, playing with her friend Rifana and Keel, then she went home to her parents there they tell her of the Tale of the Shield Hero, it fascinates her how the Legendary Hero who are usually humans came to the defense of demi-humans and beastmen thus lead to the rise of Siltvelt, now she never understood why they're in Melromarc which is considered an enemy territory but her parents simply explain to her that they are here as a sign of peace between the two countries.
She didn't think much of it as she fall asleep for the night, but then something scary happen, she awakes to the sounds of screaming and yelling which is accompanied by many monstrous roar, her parents came in the room in a frantic state her father carries her in his arms as they exit the house, there is when Raphtalia saw what is going on, the sky is red and breaking and from the cracks monsters swarms through engulfing their small village, they try to make way to one of the shelters hidden in the forest but their path is block a giant canine monster which proceeds to give chase, the family of three ran as fast as they could they ended up at the side of the cliff, with no other option and desperate to save their only child her parents toss her off the cliff Raphtalia's last memory of them is that giant beast pouncing on her parents.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Raphtalia is flailing and panicking around her bed, causing a ruckus in the house, a terrible nightmare. But then someone gave her a tight hug calming her down a sooth voice. "I-It's okay, I'm here, don't be afraid."
After a minute of struggling Raphtalia finally calms down then broke down crying, she opens her eyes and wipes her tears and saw the girl in front of her comforting her, Hinata Hyuga is her name. Raphtalia hugs the girl tightly not wanting to let go, she don't want to be alone. "Please don't leave."
"It's okay; you're safe with me and I will never leave your side."
Not soon after a man came through the door fully alert. "Hey, I heard screaming, is everything alright?"
"Yes, she just had a nightmare, no need to worry Mister Erhard."
His face softens into relief and pity, forming a smile. "Oh, I see, can I get you something to eat?"
"I-" Raphtalia is nervous but her growling stomach answers for her.
The blacksmith chuckles and said. "Well, I hear that's a yes, I'll be back in a few moments."
When the doors close Hinata turns to the demi-human child and assists her in moving. "Take a deep breath and relax." Raphtalia did what she said and took a deep breath and then exhale, after she did this five times Hinata went to asks. "Feeling better?"
Raphtalia nods as she now calms down from her episode. "Thank you."
Hinata smiles seeing that she's doing well, but that still didn't change the fact that this demi-human girl is sick prompting the Hyuga Heiress to take a bottle of medicine from her pocket. "Before Erhard came back with food you must first drink this, its medicine and it'll help you get better faster."
Trusting her words Raphtalia take the bottle and start drinking, suddenly she spits out the liquid. "BLECH! I-It's bitter."
"Well, medicines aren't known for their taste but Miss Kushina said that you must drink this if you don't want to be sick anymore, I promise we'll get you something good to eat."
Remembering the time she get sick before and her mother makes her drink medicine that taste horrible make her wish medicines taste good like chocolate or strawberry, preparing herself she gulps down from the bottle until it's empty. She is reeling from the horrid taste until Hinata hands her a cup of water, drinking to wash away the medicine from her tongue.
"Better?" Hinata asks to which Raphtalia just simply nods, the face she makes indicates that some of the taste still lingers.
Then Erhard opens the door carrying a tray of food: beef stew and steamed vegetables, laying it on the table and said. "I'll be downstairs continuing my work; if you need something don't be afraid to ask."
While the food looks simple for Hinata and Erhard it is actually salivating for Raphtalia who haven't eaten anything like this for a month now, she began indulging herself on the meal filling her empty stomach. Hinata eats with her though she's doing so with manners, she's not going tell her about her lack of poise and let's Raphtalia eat to her heart's content.
After that scrumptious meal Raphtalia lays back on the bed again still feeling sick, it's going to take a while for the medicine to do its work, in the meantime however she need to confirm what she heard last night. "Is it true?"
"Is what true?"
"That the Shield Hero rescued me last night?" The former slave girl wants to know if it's real and not an imagination in her head.
"Oh, yes, we did save you last night, do you want to say your thanks to Naruto?" Hinata is well aware that demi-humans like this girl in front of her worships the Shield Hero. "And if you want to know that Naruto is the current Shield Hero then yes, he is."
"T-That's great, my parents always tell how the previous Shield Heroes always stand up for the demi-humans and beastmen, the fact that they're always kind and generous, never afraid to face danger, and always ready to protect others with the Legendary Shield." And if Rifana is here right now she would've said it is a dream come true to be saved by him. "By the way, where is he?"
"He's with Miss Kushina out on the plains, fighting monsters so we can level up faster."
"I see, can you tell me more?"
"Of course" Hinata then went to tell her about where they came from and how they got here, it might be okay to tell her about the shinobi of their world as well.
With Naruto and Kushina
While Hinata is looking after Raphtalia the mother and son were fighting to gain more levels, at the early hour morning they fought some of the weaker monsters such as Mush and Balloons to gain materials to be absorb by the Shield, the bonus as expected is weak but that plus two Defense points is better than nothing and can be stack with later bonuses, after dealing with a handful inorganic beings they then fight the organic creatures such as Usapil, Porcupine, Demon Bats and Giant Rats.
After eating lunch at noon they went to deal with the Wave monsters that still linger around after the apocalyptic event, exterminating Inter-Dimensional Bee and Locust, and hacking apart the Inter-Dimensional Zombies and ensuring that they stay dead.
That whole day of fighting have gain a considerable amount of experience jumping Naruto's level from seven to twelve. Speaking of which since the experiences that was gain are shared among the party members, Hinata's level is now level eight and Raphtalia is level five, now why did she included Raphtalia? Well she is planning in training the demi-human girl in the arts of the shinobi, so that way she can defend herself from those who wish her harm and can go on her own once she's old enough, that is if she's orphaned and wants to join them.
After calling it a day they return to Castle Town again in their disguises, selling off the drops they acquired. Earlier that morning they sent out their clones to mislead the spies, though she learns that the Shadows are not just following their clones but also spreading out checking every building and alley, no doubt they realize that the clones are a distraction and they're trying to find the real Shield Hero and his two female companions.
Their walk from the gate to the blacksmith shop is uneventful; entering the shop they greet Erhard. "Hey there, Old Man, is Raphtalia's better?"
Erhard puts down the armor he's shining and went to greet them back. "Oh hey, you're back, as for the girl she's eating up stairs, drinking the medicine that Kushina bought, it might take a few days for her to be fully recovered. So, what you two been doing?"
This time Kushina steps forth and answers. "We've been taking care of the leftover monsters of the Waves, learning what type of enemy we'll be facing."
"Yeah, of all things I wasn't expecting it was zombies, I admit that was bit scared at first but me and Mom managed beat them back to their graves," Naruto wrinkles his nose remembering an unpleasant moment. "And man do they stink really badly, I almost puke right there."
Kushina pats Naruto on the head for a job well done, and then she picks out a kunai and shuriken from her pouch and presents them to Erhard. "Is it okay that I commission you in making more of these?"
Erhard picks up the two weapons and closely examines them, giving the kunai a twirl; he can see that the shuriken are mainly used for throwing while the kunai can be used for different purpose. "These look nice, weapons from your homeland?" Seeing the woman nods he accepts the offer. "Okay, sure I can easily forge many of these, I might be able to forge a dozen of these in two days, is that okay for you?"
As the blacksmith made his way to the counter to draw up plans two girls came out from the back, with his usual grin Naruto went to them. "Hinata, Raphtalia, how are you doing, feeling better?"
"I-I still cough but only a little." Kushina took notice that the demi-human seem to look older then the first time she saw her, almost like she aged up by one year.
"Miss Kushina, Raphtalia here wants to join to us, to become strong so she can save her friends and protect them."Hinata said, after telling the former slave about her world and the shinobi Raphtalia wants to be strong like Naruto and to serve him. "She wants to be a shinobi like us."
"Really, you don't have a home or parents to return to?" While Naruto is happy that she wants to join him he's unsure if her parents would approve their young daughter to partake in many dangerous missions.
"My parents were killed by monsters during the Wave and my village was destroyed by soldiers," The young girl is tearing up remembering the tragedy that befell Lurolona. "I don't want to be weak, I tried to be strong like Sadeena but I can't do a thing to help my friends, please train me." She went closer to Naruto with pleading eyes.
The Kushina saw the determination in her eyes, the sadness behind them, and the will to become stronger to protect those who are precious to her. Naruto after a moment of thinking said. "I would love to have you join, but despite me being the Shield Hero and know how to fight I'm still a kid like you, my Mom is the decision maker in the party, you should ask her." The three kids turn to the only adult in Naruto's party awaiting her choice.
Kushina contemplates it, after what seems to be a long minute she made her decision. "I admire your commitment but you must know our journey ahead lay many perils, plenty of hardships, there are life threatening events, and choices that cannot be overturned will affect your entire life. Are you certain that you want to join us and become a shinobi?"
Raphtalia took it all in and become hesitant for a second, but she made up her mind, there's no turning back, then again there's nothing for her to turn back to, she can only move forward. "I accept, Miss Kushina."
"Very well then, welcome to the team, Raphtalia." Kushina smiles as the demi-human girl is overjoy to be part of their group.
"Thank you, thank you very much, I promise will not let you down."
Naruto gave Raphtalia a hug causing the girl to blush. "Congratulations, you're going to love being a shinobi, believe it!"
"I'm happy that you're with us, we'll teach everything we know to make you strong, and that's a promise." Hinata turns to leading redhead. "When will she start?"
"Once she recovers from her sickness, in the meantime she needs rest and proper diet."
"We can't start now?" Raphtalia wants to prove her worth, but if that what Kushina wants then she will accept.
"You must have a healthy mind and body in order if you want to start training to become a shinobi," Kushina states but continues on. "But if you insist we can start with shuriken tossing." The girl became jumpy when she heard that.
"Yeah, shuriken tossing is easy, I can –" Naruto stops as he realizes something, looking down on the Legendary Shield with annoyance. "Right, I forgot, I can't use shuriken or any other weapons thanks to this stupid restrictions." He let out a vexed sigh and shrugs. "At least it didn't stop me from using jutsus."
"Don't worry; I can help with her training, even while you're busy with leveling up." Hinata voluntarily said thus cheering up both Naruto and Raphtalia.
Kushina then gave out her planned schedule for the new shinobi-in-training. "While you recover you have an hour of shuriken training, once you regain your good health is where you begin Taijutsu sparing with Hinata, we'll bring you along with our travels, make you get use to the fighting, is that okay with you?"
Raphtalia nods excitedly. "Yes, I'll train to be the very best, and become your strongest companion."
"I'm sure you will." She turns to Erhard and asks him. "Is there a room we can train in?"
Erhard was watching this exchange from the counter, he is happy for the orphaned and homeless girl who is now part of the group, there's potential that they might become a family. "Yeah, right at the back, there's an empty space where I test out the weapons I forged."
"Thank you." The four went to the back, they see it as a spacious room with target dummies on one side and a collection of weapons on the other, there Hinata teach Raphtalia about the shuriken and kunai and how to throw them, and thus her shinobi's journey begins.
Faubrey
Far from Melromarc in the technologically advanced kingdom of Faubrey is where the leaders and representatives from different nations converge, it went smoothly at first were they agreed that Faubrey gets to be the first country to summon a Hero, then Zeltoble, Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden argued for the longest until they reached a compromise were the Shield Hero spend a month in Siltvelt then a month in Shieldfreeden and vice versa, and Melromarc is the fourth in line for the Hero summoning. That was the plan before until news came that the stupid king of Melromarc broke the agreement and summoned all four Heroes, Mirellia is deeply embarrassed by her husband's action as he did this without her consent or the approval of the other nations, needless to say that the Queen is very pissed at Aultcray as she's busy appeasing the other leaders, compromising with representative, and outwitting her opponents; she's able to placated them by allowing them to send their envoys to meet the Heroes, she write letters to reprimand her foolish husband along with instructions to give special treatment to the Shield and warnings if he fail to do this.
To make her situation hard the Heroes refuse to meet with the envoys causing disappointment and many to blame her, she knew that Aultcray and the church somehow convinced the Heroes to not leave the kingdom. Her husband's stupidity goes further when he attempted to convict the Shield Hero of rape, yes he actually tried to convict a twelve year old child of raping a well-known liar Malty S Melromarc, needless to say that when the others learn of this scandal they had a huge laugh mocking Aultcray's decreasing intellect and praising the Shield Hero's mother who proved her son's innocence. Her husband and daughter just turn her kingdom into a massive joke with the aforementioned two becoming a national embarrassment.
Her thoughts drift from her incompetent husband and daughter to the Shield Hero and his companions, it is very rare but such cases were the summoning ritual brings more people happens, the first recorded from five centuries ago tells of a Spear Hero's sister who went to become a Vassal Hero later on, another one records the husband of the Bow Heroine who didn't become a Vassal Hero simply a close partner, overall the chances for the Shield Hero's companion is fifty-fifty. On the bright side Shield's mother Kushina Uzumaki proved herself a strong fighter when she instantly disarm or kill the knights who attempt to kill her not to mention that they're very elusive able to mislead or misdirect Shadows even dispatching those who are loyal to her husband and the Church, what's even better is that the Three Heroes Church will have a very difficult time painting the Shield Hero as a demon. On a side note, there's a new record, the youngest recorded age is no longer fifteen, now it's twelve thanks to Naruto.
"After the rigged trial it's nearly impossible for us to track them down, their skills in stealth is extraordinary as they able to lead us in dead end time and time again." Her loyal Shadow reports, although she hides it well the covert operative is very impress that Kushina and the two kids had dupe them so easily.
"I assume our people didn't take it well did they?"
"Indeed, many commoners and nobles express their disdain for the trial, their respect for the King and First Princess drastically plummet, and it'll take a long time for the King to recover his prestigious reputation."
The Queen sighs in frustration. "Performing the summoning without my permission and hoarding all the Legendary Heroes is one thing but attempting to convict a child of such heinous crime is going overboard, his unhinged hatred towards the previous Shield Hero just resulted in our kingdom becoming the laughingstock of the world." Melromarc is matriarchal society due to the fact that women can give birth, and so to an extent children are considered pure and sacred, thus laws had been passed by Queens of old that grants protection for the youngsters. She turns to her spy with an order. "I want you and your subordinates to continue on monitoring the activities in the capital."
"As you command, my Queen"
After the Shadow left a light knock is heard, Mirellia turns to the door of her guest room, a guard opens it and letting in her daughter and Crown Princess Melty Q Melromarc. "Mother, the King of Faubrey is ready to speak to you in private."
"Good, let us go then." Mirellia left her quarters accompanied by her daughter and her loyal knights.
Melromarc
Back with the group, Kushina and Naruto watch as Hinata and Raphtalia throw shurikens at the practice dummy, the new member miss many times during the first ten minutes, but she's getting better at it when she's hitting the dummy consistently. "Alright, it's been an hour now, you may stop."
"Already, but I was getting good and having fun."
"Yes, but you forgot that you're still sick, and also it's going to be dark soon and we didn't have dinner yet, don't worry there is still tomorrow." Kushina reassures her as she walks to the door.
"Yeah, I am feeling hungry, and Mom's a great cook." Naruto is looking forward for dinner.
Suddenly Kushina stops in her tracks causing the three to look at her with puzzled looks. "Say, Naruto, summon Gamakichi, see if we finally get our backup."
"Right, got it, stand everyone." Naruto bit his thumb to draw a trickle of blood and readies for a summoning.
"What's going on?" Raphtalia asks as Hinata pulls her aside.
"A summoning, we requested some reinforcement from our world, hopefully it would be a success." Hinata explains.
"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto slams his hand on the ground and before Raphtalia knows it a burst of smoke erupt engulfing Naruto entirely; the new member is worried that something bad might happen but immediately calms down when cloud slowly dissipates revealing an unharmed Naruto, that's when she notices that a single man emerges.
This man is tall and well-built, long waist-length spikey hair, green clothing with a red haori, and a large scroll on his back. The man suddenly strikes a pose and delivers his introductory speech. "Never fear, for the great Toad Sage is here, to strike fear into the enemy and win the hearts of maiden, I Jiraiya of Konoha have arrive to-"
"Hey, Pervy Sage, nice seeing you here are you the only one?" Naruto said so suddenly causing the man to fall down.
Jiraiya picks himself back up and reprimands his godson. "Damn it, Naruto, you really just have to interrupt my first introduction in this new world!"
Chapter ends
AN: Regarding about Naruto's harem, again I'm not entirely sure about the whole thing there's a good chance that it's just going to be NarutoxHinata, also about the reinforcements, I'm going to start with Jiraiya for the meantime, a means to test the water first before going all in, the next people for backup would be Kakashi and Kurenai.
And there you hopefully you enjoy this chapter and also this extra
OMAKE
Motoyasu vs the Parents: Yamanaka
Motoyasu couldn't really believe his luck, after being stab multiple times by yanderes he's been isekaied into a new world and he's the new Spear Hero, a dream come true, the Royal family shower him with praises and gifts, girls flock to join his party, and many townsfolk look at him with admiration. After completing another glorious quest he went to the castle to get his just rewards, but he is stop when his eyes catch glimpse of a beautiful maiden from the distance, she wears a purple that reveals her legs and abdomen which is wrapped in bandages, small hoop-earrings, and a pair of white arm warmers. He wasted no time in getting to her ignoring his female party members for a moment, and when he's close he saw her face: fair skin, light blue eyes, and long platinum blond hair worn in a ponytail.
"Hello there fine Maiden, I was stunned by your beauty." He delivers his pick-up line wooing this girl to his side.
However the girl is startled at first then became wary. "Uh, do I know you?"
"Oh, forgive me, I was momentarily lost by your natural beauty, I am Motoyasu Kitamura, the gallant Spear Hero, may I know your name, or even join me and my comrades? I promise that you'll love it being with, you don't have to lift a finger to fight for I will protect you with my life."
Unfortunately for Motoyasu while he thinks he's being charming and romantic but to the perspective of a young twelve year old girl like Ino Yamanaka she sees that he's being creepy and predatory making her very uncomfortable with him slowly leering at her.
"Daddy, DADDY! This man is bothering me!" Ino shouts out causing a scene.
Motoyasu is shock when this is her response, panicking a little he shushes her hoping to calm her down, until a man appears behind the girl who is no doubt her father.
"So you're the Spear Hero," Inoichi dangerously said as Ino hides behind him. "It seems Kushina's suspicion about you is correct, that you're attracted to most women including underage girls."
"W-Wait, h-hold on a minute, I-I-I swear I mean her no harm, I-I just want to know her name." Motoyasu defends himself but the man is having none of it.
Inoichi cracks his knuckles. "Hopefully a harsh discipline from me will teach you not to approach young girls in such a way."
And the Head of the Yamanaka clan pounces on the young man and proceeds to beat him up into a pulp lasting a minute, once he's done Motoyasu is twitching on the ground with multiple bruises mostly on his face. Inoichi walks away with Ino following behind, she looks back at Motoyasa and the two lock eyes until she just stick her tongue out then walks away with her father.
OMAKE END
